Affinity Photo 2 Not Starting (Windows)

[Jamie W]

I just downloaded Affinity Photo 2, and it's not starting. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling it but it still says "this application is not responding". Is anyone else experiencing this or have a fix?

[Komatös]

Hi @Jamie W and welcome to the forum.

Which operating system and version do you use?

[ehbowen]

I'm having the same issue. I normally use Linux and never wanted anything to do with Windows again, but after giving the Affinity suite a 'test run' in VirtualBox under Win10, I decided to bite the bullet and purchase a copy of Win10 for install on a new HDD as a dual-boot system. After downloading and installing the three programs, though, none of them will function; the logo screen opens but nothing happens and eventually Windows says, "Affinity Designer 2 is Not Responding" and all I can do is continue to wait (nothing happens) or close the program.

I'm puzzled by this because I was able to open, activate, and use the software under VirtualBox, but on an actual Windows installation it doesn't function at all. Here's my system info:

Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.9
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro, 64 bit, Build 19045, Installed 20230611141523.000000-420
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5500, AMD64 Family 25 Model 80 Stepping 0, CPU Count: 12
Total Physical RAM: 32 GB
Graphics Card: AMD FirePro W5100 (FireGL V) Graphics Adapter
Hard Drives: 😄 931 GB (865 GB Free);
Motherboard: ASRock A520M Phantom Gaming 4
System: American Megatrends International, LLC., ver ALASKA - 1072009, s/n To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Antivirus: Windows Defender, Enabled and Updated

Editing to Add: I have tried both the MSIX and msi.exe installers. Same results either way.

Edited June 12, 2023 by ehbowen
Add Additional Information

[Komatös]

Hi @ehbowen and welcome to the forum.

Please try it with hardware acceleration disabled in Affinity Designer.

To do this, hold down the CTRL key while starting Affinity Designer.
Uncheck all options and then check Disable Hardware Acceleration.

However, I personally think that the graphics card is the decisive factor here. The card is good for fast calculations in an optimized environment CAD/3D rendering/audio/video production.
But not for graphics-intensive applications or games.
However, I am happy to be proven wrong.

[ehbowen]

9 hours ago, Komatös said:

Hi @ehbowen and welcome to the forum.

Please try it with hardware acceleration disabled in Affinity Designer.

To do this, hold down the CTRL key while starting Affinity Designer.
Uncheck all options and then check Disable Hardware Acceleration.

However, I personally think that the graphics card is the decisive factor here. The card is good for fast calculations in an optimized environment CAD/3D rendering/audio/video production.
But not for graphics-intensive applications or games.
However, I am happy to be proven wrong.

Well, the graphics card was chosen for video work, specifically with DaVinci Resolve under Linux. Perhaps it is the issue, as disabling the hardware acceleration didn't seem to change anything. Are there any other workarounds you might suggest?

[ehbowen]

5 hours ago, ehbowen said:

Well, the graphics card was chosen for video work, specifically with DaVinci Resolve under Linux. Perhaps it is the issue, as disabling the hardware acceleration didn't seem to change anything. Are there any other workarounds you might suggest?

I was able to get the Affinity programs to install on an older, semi-retired Windows computer:

Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.9
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro, 64 bit, Build 19044, Installed 20210922000754.000000-360
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 1700 Eight-Core Processor, AMD64 Family 23 Model 1 Stepping 1, CPU Count: 16
Total Physical RAM: 32 GB
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050
Hard Drives: 😄 930 GB (517 GB Free); L: 7450 GB (2921 GB Free); N: 3725 GB (1131 GB Free);
Motherboard: ASRock AB350 Gaming K4, s/n M80-A4015502262
System: American Megatrends Inc., ver ALASKA - 1072009, s/n To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Antivirus: Windows Defender, Disabled

However, I'd prefer to have them available on my primary computer. But it appears that there is an incompatibility. Should I add this as a bug report?